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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

It's Liquid Dynamite!

This is a find I have to credit to my daughter. AVA and I were hunting this weekend and although we were low on karma we were high on persistence. Well, I was high on persistence, she was high on ice cream. Heading to the last sale of the day, we found a sign to another sale on the way. (This always happens - the "dig" is always deeper on the other side of the phone pole.)

This was one of those sales that rate high on a scale I can only describe as the seedy index. It is no strike against the homeowners, but life eventually catches up with you, and it is impossible to stay ahead of all your belongings. Some folks have trouble throwing stuff out. At the top of the scale is of course the hoarder (we won't go there - figuratively and literally). They never have sales, and even if they did, you wouldn't go near them. This house was a repository for an electronics supply business the owner had 35 years ago and never got rid of his unsold inventory. This is another place I wished I'd taken a picture. The basement was filled with case after case of soda, no soda, no lids, just the cans.

Picture 500 of these semi filled with screws, bolts, solder points, connectors, etc. etc. Yukon Club sounded vaguely familiar, but then it sounded like many of the 100 or so off brands or regional distributors around New York and New England. To me it sounded suspiciously close to Utica Club, a fairly well known beer and soda bottler in the Eastern U.S. The homeowner is on his way to being a hoarder, but the tag sale was a sign of hope. Though by the looks of the basement , he has a long way to go. It wasn't long before I found something that I contemplated buying.

I never would buy this because I don't collect cans (anymore), but I can't help it when I see such an oddball product that must have been widely distributed. The label design was wild. This would have gone well on the table of the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes." Right next to the "Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs!"

You may be wondering how I ended up with these cans, or how am I going to pin the excuse on my daughter. Well, as we were searching the basement, AVA turned several cans (3) upside down and began to tap on them with a swizzle stick like a drum set. The owner gave her the "drum" set and I let it happen because I saw the cans that were going in the bag, I loved the inappropriate tag line so much, that I was glad she got it. She will tire of these and not miss them and I will recycle them. After much searching online, I can not come up with any history of either beverage line. Have you ever seen these before? Post your story in the comments.

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About Me

Aside from my career in community television, I am a self-proclaimed writer, cartoonist, and "urban archeologist." I love digging through the past - discovering the stories behind old paper, gadgets (new and old), and other oddities. I often post stories of items in the hopes that someone will help me learn more about them. Have you found something interesting in your (or someone's) attic, basement, or garage? Share it here. Guest authors are invited to submit stories of interesting "finds."